The invention relates to the treatment of radioactive waste resulting from the operation of nuclear power plants.
It more particularly relates to the treatment of carbonaceous waste, particularly graphite used as a material to absorb neutrons in the sleeves around a reactor.
The graphite can be treated by combustion and/or by steam reforming. A more general proposal here is a treatment from the extraction of the graphite irradiated in the reactor to the treatment of the gases emitted (by combustion or steam reforming the graphite), all while providing the treatments necessary for conditioning the secondary waste resulting from the overall treatment.
The choice of medium for transporting the graphite to the graphite treatment reactor is an important point at this stage because the carrier medium determines the parameters that must be adapted for later treatment of the effluents collected (typically concentrated chlorine 36 (36Cl), carbon 14 (14C), and tritium (3H)), for their subsequent capture or mineralization in order to limit their release into the environment as much as possible.
In one possible embodiment, the graphite as such is treated according to the method described in document FR-2943167, which also describes the collection and processing of effluents.
However, the best possible medium for transporting the graphite remains to be determined.